Comic: "Final Crisis #3"
Published by: DC Comics
Written by: Grant Morrison
Artist: J.G. Jones

Reviewer: Protoclown
Posted: 8/11/2008

Plot: I still don't know what's going on.

Review: Three issues into Final Crisis, and I'm still confused as to what's going on, but that doesn't mean I'm not interested. Far from it, in fact. I shouldn't say I'm completely clueless at this point--Grant Morrison has started to finally reveal what the basic story of Final Crisis actually is, which is good, since we're about at the halfway point, but so many of the plot threads still don't connect to the main story in obvious ways. But really, that's the best thing about Morrison. He's one of the most challenging (and insane) writers in the industry, and he certainly doesn't spell everything out for the reader.

This is the kind of book that can be very frustrating to follow monthly, as most things have been revealed in a very roundabout way, but I'm hopeful that once the story is complete, going back over it (it should probably be read multiple times anyway) will provide a very rewarding experience for the careful reader. This time around there are connections to Morrison's ambitious Seven Soldiers project, with the appearance of Frankenstein, and to Countdown, with the appearance of Mary Marvel (the evil version of whom looks more fucked up in this book, and given that it's a Morrison story, that's not very surprising).

The main premise to the overall story at this point seems to be that Darkseid won, and has corrupted all life with his anti-life equation, which has resulted in him having dominion over pretty much everything. This is discovered by a couple incarnations of the Flash who go through the time stream and come out into the future after evil has triumphed. They quickly encounter evil versions of Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and who appears to be Starfire who speak their intention to kill them as the issue ends.

I can see where this book would be very inaccessible to someone unfamiliar with the DC Universe, or impossibly frustrating to impatient readers who can't stand being confused and having to wait a long time for answers, but I have to give DC credit for trying to do something unique and risky here, especially with a big event book rather than some artsy fringe title whose failure would hardly matter to the business side of the company. They could be giving us the same run-of-the-mill big event story that Marvel is giving us this year (no matter how they try to dress it up differently), but they're not. They could end up falling on their face and getting burned while Marvel plays it safe (as safe as foolishly fucking up their universe can be considered, anyway), so I have to respect them for that.

One thing that baffles me however if Supergirl's presence on one of the covers when she's hardly in this issue at all. There are several other characters who would have been far more appropriate who spring to mind, but perhaps this is some kind of hint of things to come?

Overall rating:
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)